


Subtle

by kryptonianmenace



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 04:36:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20754437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kryptonianmenace/pseuds/kryptonianmenace
Summary: Tim and Kon still find each other even in a world where the batfamily aren't vigilantes. Kon is not good at being subtle.





	Subtle

**Author's Note:**

> Not my best work, but I don't even care anymore. I just want to post it to get it out.

Against all odds, Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne was probably Gotham's favorite Wayne child to gossip about. He was clever, always giving witty quotes to the reporters. He was smart, on track to take over his father's multiple companies if he wanted to. He was kind, constantly stopping to help people on the streets when he could. And most importantly, it was a rare but glorious thing to see him genuinely embarrassed by his family members, because he had no shame and was more likely to embarrass himself before they had the chance. Which, of course, meant that they had to try.  
  
Damian tried the most often, making comments to the paparazzi about various shenanigans Tim had gotten up to in the Manor. Nothing too incriminating of course, both because he had learned from Alfred that he should be a bit more lenient on his brother, but also because he didn't want to cause a scandal. Of course, nothing Tim did could be considered scandalous, really. The wildest thing he had done was try to imitate Dick's acrobatic skills and accidentally fallen directly on Bruce, causing a mess of the living room in the process.  
  
Jason tried for Tim's reaction rather than for the media, and focused more on embarrassing him in the moment. The week where he tried to get Tim a date to a school dance by mentioning it in an interview was talked about in Gotham for months. Tim found it nearly impossible to discuss his love life without blushing after that incident.  
  
Dick, the conniving bastard, pretended he did it on accident, but Tim knew better. He shared far too many stories of Tim as a kid for it to be accidental. As far as Tim was concerned, Gotham didn't need to know that he used to follow Jason and Dick around, trying to imitate them. Jason especially didn't need to know that.  
  
Steph wasn't even technically in the family, but her brief period as his girlfriend gave her plenty of embarrassing stories to share when she was in the mood for it. Cass liked to add in at times, but she preferred to avoid the paparazzi.  
  
Barbara and Duke were kind enough to refrain from making any comments about Tim, though occasionally they did make jokes about themselves.  
  
Luckily, the paparazzi never asked Kate about Tim, so she didn't get much opportunity to join the fun of embarrassing the siblings, much to Tim's relief.  
  
Bruce, though.  
  
Bruce was probably the worst, in Tim's opinion, and that wasn't even due to comments about Tim.  
  
No, Bruce, the asshole, thought it was hilarious to act like an air headed playboy for the media, despite his family knowing he was usually much calmer and serious. Bruce was the one who led to Tim embarrassing himself, and that’s why he was the worst. The man lived for starting drama and that drama always inevitably affected the rest of the family. Which he was doing now.  
  
"Oh, Supey!" Bruce cooed with an exaggerated cry, pulling himself away from the concerned policeman who had been in charge of keeping civilians out of harm's way. He stepped towards Superman as the Man of Steel adjusted his hold on Bruce's third son. Tim blushed and covered his face, knowing he wouldn't be let down any time soon now that Bruce had decided to distract the superhero. "If you wanted to meet the family, you could have just said so."  
  
"Dad," Tim grumbled out, almost whining. "He just saved me from Killer Croc. It's not a big deal. Please don't make it weird."  
  
Superman tsked and looked down at Tim with concern in his eyes. "You could have been much more severely injured. What were you thinking, egging him on like that?"  
  
Tim scowled and squirmed to avoid Superman's gaze. "I was trying to distract him until you got there."  
  
Bruce laughed as Superman sighed.  
  
Setting Tim down on his own feet, Superman grasped the teen's shoulder and gave him a stern look. "And why were you so sure I would get there in time? What if he had hurt you before then?"  
  
Bruce chuckled and nudged Superman's hand away to wrap an arm around Tim. "You are the hero of Gotham and Metropolis, Superman. Are you really surprised he had so much faith in you?"  
  
Tim's face burned as he stared down at his shoes and tried to ignore the paparazzi shouting.  
  
"Even heroes make mistakes, and I would hate to know someone was hurt because they put too much faith in me," Superman said, giving the pair a solemn look.  
  
Tim nodded quickly, still avoiding eye contact. "I'm sorry. I'll be more careful from now on."  
  
"That's very sweet, Supes," Bruce said, almost interrupting his son, a flirtatious grin directed at Superman. "But my family will always have faith in you. How often have you saved me? It feels like I have my own personal hero."  
  
At that, Tim concluded that he had had enough of the second hand embarrassment of seeing a parent flirt. "I'm going to wait in the car," he said, but he didn't get a response from the flustered hero or his adopted father.  
  
Just as he was about to enter the car with a waiting Alfred in the driver's seat, he was caught off-guard by a reporter.  
  
"Mr. Drake-Wayne! What was it like for you, being rescued by Superman for the first time?" she asked.  
  
He stumbled with his words for a moment before finally speaking. "Kind of awkward because my dad keeps flirting with him. He's nice, though."  
  
Tim did not know those words would lead to embarrassment, but in hindsight he wasn’t surprised. 

* * *

“Man, it’s gonna be so weird without you,” Bart said as he opened the door to Jitters and held it for Kon and Cassie. The line was a bit long, but it wasn’t surprising due to the influx of workers taking a lunch break. Though the coffee shop was busy, there were still a few tables open. The occupied tables held a variety of different people. The loudest was the table with three children. The three heroes smiled when they saw the children were dressed in Justice League costumes and pretending to save their parents from an imaginary enemy.

“Yeah,” Cassie said, returning her attention to her two friends. “Though, I won’t miss having your dirty laundry everywhere.”

Bart laughed and thumped Kon on the back as Kon rolled his eyes.

“Very funny. Not like Bart isn’t worse,” Kon said.

Faking a gasp of shock, Bart pressed a hand to his heart. He took a step back and accidentally bumped into a chair, nearly knocking it over. Regaining his balance, he glanced between the two others. “I didn’t just fall. Didn’t happen,” he said. Cassie laughed and Kon shook his head with a grin.

“Sure you didn’t. But anyway, I guess I’ll miss you guys, too,” Kon said. “Though I am glad Clark’s finally trusting me to manage a city on my own. I’m excited.”

“Would you say you’re jittery?” Bart said with a straight face. Kon groaned and Cassie turned as if to leave.

“I regret knowing you, you’re the worst,” she said, though a grin was peaking at the corner of her mouth as Bart pulled her back to face them again.

"You love me - Hey! Dude, dude, dude, isn't that the guy who said his dad keeps flirting with Superman when Lois asked him a question?" Bart asked, grabbing Kon's arm and shaking it incessantly, just barely managing to speak at a speed that could pass as human while they were in public. Cassie giggled and nudged Kon as well, before surreptitiously pointing to a table in the corner.

The guy in question was a mess, there was no way around it. He had three empty cups on the table he had claimed and he was rapidly working on a fourth. His laptop was perched precariously on the edge, to make space for the ungodly amount of papers scattered across the surface. He stared with wide, bloodshot eyes at his laptop, mouthing something quietly to himself as he clutched his fourth cup of whatever he was drinking to his chest. His long black hair was disheveled, his hoodie was large enough to slide off his shoulders, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in years. Despite that, he had an air of intense concentration that Kon had never seen before.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about, man," Kon said, turning to look back at Bart. "But he doesn't look like he's doing too good."  
  
Cassie laughed loudly, startling a few other customers in line with them. "That's definitely him. Tim Drake, adopted son of Bruce Wayne."  
  
Kon groaned and shifted to lean all his weight on Cassie, who good-naturedly patted him on the back. "Oh, that guy. Why did you need to remind me that everyone has a thing for Clark? It's weird. I don't want to think about it."  
  
"You should go talk to him about it," Bart said cheerfully, poking Kon's head until he stood up properly.  
  
"And say what? 'Hey, I'm the clone of the guy your dad has the hots for?'"  
  
Cassie smirked and slung an arm around Kon's shoulders. "No, but you could get his number. He's pretty cute and seems like your type."  
  
Kon scoffed, grinning despite himself. "Oh, so you date me for a little bit and suddenly you’re an expert on my type now? Just what do you think my type is, Cassie? Huh?"  
  
"Pretty much anyone attractive and not evil," Bart said. “And that second one is pretty lenient.” Kon made to protest but cut himself off and just pointed at Bart in a motion to indicate he was right.  
  
"Go talk to him, we'll get your drink for you," Cassie said, shoving him hard towards Tim's table.  
  
After flipping her off, Kon sighed and decided it was worth a shot, especially since his friends wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he didn't. 

* * *

"Are you, like, okay or whatever?"  
  
Tim's head shot up, startled, at the voice above him.  
  
"Because you look like you're about to eat that cup and then turn those papers into an outfit. Also you probably need sleep. Stat. What are you even drinking?"  
  
The voice came from a teen around Tim's own age, except infinitely more put together, if you were to ask Tim. He looked concerned, eyeing the contents of the table with a wary curiosity. Tim wasn’t sure if it was the excess coffee or the lack of sleep that caused it, but he couldn’t help but stare at the guy. His undercut brought the focus of his face to his messy hair and pierced ear, but his clothes were more distracting. Tim had no idea how, but this guy had somehow managed to create a look that could only be described as punk farm boy, with his worn jeans that were clearly covered in grass stains, beaten in Dr. Marten's, gray shirt, and both an unbuttoned flannel and a leather jacket on top. The flannel and leather combo didn't quite work because the flannel was a size too big. Tim could appreciate that. To top the whole look off, the guy wore a pair of plastic-framed glasses, a piece of green duct tape barely holding the left arm onto the rest of the frames.  
  
"I couldn't sleep and it was annoying me and messing with my regular sleep schedule, so around two I decided to keep myself awake by seeing how many songs show signs of being influenced by Green Day, along with any songs that inspired Green Day, and then any others inspired by those, and then see if I can find any commonalities," Tim said, blinking at the punk farmer teen. "It was a lot bigger project than I thought, so I took a break to look at some work stuff and got sucked into all the numbers. I’ve been at it for a while now. I’m close to sealing a deal we’ve had in the works for years. I’m bored out of my mind.”

The teen was silent for a moment before he replied with obvious shock and concern in his voice. "You've been at this since two a.m.?"  
  
"P.m., actually," Tim said. "But my brother made me go to bed an hour and a half ago because he was worried and thinks I need to sleep, but joke's on him, I came here instead."  
  
"Ok, what the fuck, man, I'm staging an intervention," the punk farmer said. He moved quickly and grabbed Tim's laptop before Tim could react. "You're going to sit with me and my friends, eat a proper meal, then go home and get some goddamn sleep."  
  
"What- Hey- Give that back!" Tim protested, standing and trying to follow as the teen backed up to keep the laptop out of his reach. "Who even are you? How do I know you're not just stealing my laptop?"  
  
"Cassie! Bart! We're sitting over here," the teen spoke loudly to his friends in the line at the counter before turning back to Tim. "I'm Conner Kent. I'm not going to steal your laptop, I just need to make sure you don't collapse, dude."  
  
“I collapse all the time! I’ll be fine!” Tim spluttered but Conner ignored him.  
  
"What do you want to eat? I'll have them get it for you, our treat since you look like you're about to die," Conner continued. 

"I'm not hungry!" Tim protested, but Conner just turned and shouted to his friends to buy him ‘whatever as long as it counts as a full meal.’

“So, even if you have insomnia, this is still pretty intense, how have you been awake so long?” Conner asked.

Tim glared. “We’re trying to adjust my meds. I’m seeing the doctor on Friday.”

Conner hummed in acknowledgement before nudging Tim in the arm. "Before you eat, you need to call your brother and tell him to come pick you up after you've gotten some food in you, and then you need to sleep," he said.  
  
Overwhelmed and utterly out of his element, Tim was surprised to find himself actually listening.

* * *

Jason had planned to slam his hands down in an intimidating fashion on the table, but he paused when he saw Tim conked out, head just barely not touching any of the plates on the table. Instead, he slammed his hands on the backrest of the chair occupied by the red head. “Alright, listen up. If any of you hurt him, I’m telling Bruce and he’ll find a way to contact Superman and convince him to rough you up a little bit until you stop hurting random teens, got that?”

The red headed boy craned his neck to stare upside down at him, expression gobsmacked. The blonde girl was stifling laughter and trying to hide her amusement behind her mug. The black haired boy looked startled, but managed to recover quickly.

“Are you his brother?” he asked, standing and offering a hand to shake. “I’m Conner, and these are my friends, Bart and Cassie. When we got here, he looked like he was on the verge of collapsing. We got him to eat and then he just. Passed out.”

Jason rolled his eyes as he shook Conner’s hand before moving to crouch next to his sleeping brother. “Jason Todd, so unfortunately, yes, I’m his older brother. The idiot does this a lot.”

He gently shook Tim by the shoulder. Groggy, Tim didn’t move his head much, just enough to look at the man shaking him awake.

“Jay?”

“Hey twerp, I’m gonna take you back to my apartment. It’s closest,” Jason said.

Tim groaned and attempted to bury his face in the table. “No. ‘M too tired t’move.”

Jason laughed, ignoring the other three at the table who were visibly trying to make it seem like they weren’t listening to the conversation. “I’ve got you. You want piggy back or fireman carry?”

“You’re too heavy for me to carry, Jay, doesn’t make sense,” Tim mumbled.

* * *

Tim stared at his phone, then switched to stare at his brother. Jason was puttering around the kitchen, pulling out supplies to make sandwiches, while Tim sat at the nearby table.  
  
"Uh, hey, Jay?" he said hesitantly.  
  
"Yeah?" Jason said, turning his head to glance back at him.  
  
Tim stared at his phone once more, trying to process the message. "Did you give my phone number to that coffee shop guy?"  
  
Jason smirked and began making a sandwich. "Yeah. You're welcome."  
  
There was a long silence before Tim slid his phone to the table edge, gesturing for Jason to come and read it. "He just sent me a message and I don't understand."  
  
Setting his food down, Jason took a few steps and grabbed the phone. He read the message and burst into laughter. "Damn, Timbo, you've been memed again!"  
  
"I have? Why?"  
  
Still laughing, Jason set the phone down and turned back to his food as he replied. "Because you told Lois Lane, who might be sleeping with Superman, that Bruce is hitting on him."  
  
Tim snatched his phone to read the message again. "Wait, shit, that was Lois Lane? Why am I getting called a homewrecker when Bruce is the one trying to get into superhero pants? This meme doesn't even make sense."  
  
Ignoring Jason's laughter, Tim frantically started typing a message in reply.  
  
**To Coffee Guy:** ****  
_ Don't call me a homewrecker unless I've personally wrecked your home in particular. _  
  
**From Coffee Guy:**  
_ lois is married to my dad so you kinda did lmao _  
  
**From Coffee Guy:**  
_ im joking btw my dad doesnt care if your dad wants to fuck superman _  
  
"This fucker," Tim said. "I can't believe this, coffee guy is Lois Lane's step-son and he's totally making fun of me."  
  
Jason let out a laugh and set a plate in front of Tim before joining him at the table. "I like him already. Eat that."  
  
"I'm not hungry, I just woke up," Tim said, focusing back on his phone.

* * *

“I can’t believe you’re still texting that rich kid from Jitters,” Cassie said, leaning against Kon’s back and attempting to read over his shoulder.

Kon nudged her away and turned on the stool he was seated on so his back was to the counter. “I literally just texted him. I think he just woke up.”

She laughed and hopped up to sit on the counter next to him. “Uh huh. And why did you ask for his number in the first place? You like him, Super-fuckboy.”

“Kon’s got a crush!” Bart sang as he zipped around the apartment.

“Shut up, Imp! And stop rearranging my stuff, you’ve been doing that for hours,” Kon said, throwing an unopened stack of paper plates at the speedster. The plates were immediately caught and set back on the counter within seconds, which wasn’t a surprise but also not what Kon had intended.

* * *

**Tim:  
** _ Don't call me a homewrecker unless I've personally wrecked your home in particular. _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ lois is married to my dad so you kinda did lmao _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ im joking btw my dad doesnt care if your dad wants to fuck superman _

**Tim:**  
_ Bruce would happily sleep with all three of them if given the chance. _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ id rather not think about any of them having sex pls nd thnx _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ Do you think Kryptonians have different genitals than humans? _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ do Not make me think about this good god _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ Maybe Superman's got that hentai shit in his pants. _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ Kinky. _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ why are the cute ones always into freaky shit _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ YEET. _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ You called me cute, ayyyyy. _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ I think I need more sleep. I'm talking like Steph, wtf. _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ whats a yeet _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ "What's a yeet" lol dude just use urban dictionary. _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ ???? _

**Kon:**  
_ never mind cassie just showed me what urban dictionary is _  
  
**Kon:** **  
** _ bart lied to me he said he could teach me all the slang i could ever need and yet _

**Kon:  
** _ and yeet _

**Kon:  
** _ see what i did there? yeet _

**Tim:**  
_ Oh my god. _

**Tim:  
** _ That was terrible and I appreciate it. _

**Tim:**  
_ Did you seriously need someone to teach you slang? _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ its confusing _  
  
**Tim:** ****  
_ That’s fair. _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ dude i just looked up fuckboy on here and i just??? cassie calls me that as a joke but she also gets annoyed if other people call me that and thats kinda sweet _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ Are you a fuckboy though? _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ im like half a fuckboy probably _  
  
**Tim:**  
_ I forgot your name so Half A Fuckboy is your name in my phone now. _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ rude _  
  
**Kon:**  
_ im conner. i already know youre tim in case you couldnt tell from the memes about you _  
****

**Tim:**  
_ THOSE MEMES AREN’T EVEN GOOD _

**Kon:  
** _ omfg _

**Kon:  
** _ chill dude _

* * *

Tim blinked. Conner didn’t seem to notice that his glasses had been knocked off his face, but Tim did because, well. Conner’s face was right there. In his face. Because they had just made out. And, boy, his face sure was… distinctive. Very eye-catching.

They were gonna have to talk about that, Tim realized absently.

“Uh,” he said. So eloquent.

“That,” Conner said. He didn’t add anything, he just continued staring at the boy in his lap and blushing.

“That happened,” Tim finished for him. Clearly, the two of them had a way with words. 

Conner nodded, shifting his hands away from Tim’s face and down to his hips. “It did.”

Shuffling backwards, Tim climbed off Conner’s lap with about as much grace as a flightless bird trying to freefall. He settled in on the couch next to Conner, who turned to face him better. “And, uh. Opinion?”

“What?”

Tim shifted in his seat. He fiddled with the hem of his jeans. “On what happened?”

“Oh,” Conner said. His face managed to flush even more red as he moved his gaze to stare at just right of Tim’s head. “It was pretty great. Uh. I would not mind a repeat.”

“Cool. Uh. Cool,” Tim said. After a moment’s hesitation, he switched to fiddling with Conner’s jeans. To test the waters, so to say. “Me too.

* * *

“I’m gonna be honest, your shirt kinda confuses me,” Kon said as Tim sprawled on his couch.

Amused, Tim didn’t look at Kon, who was hanging out near where his newly updated laptop sat on the kitchen table.

“What part?” Tim asked.

Kon shut his laptop and rested his elbows on the table, chin in one hand. “So, like, I get that those ‘I Want To Believe’ alien shirts are a thing, though I don’t really get why because we already know they exist, but why does it have the, uh, Super symbol instead of the usual UFO or stereotypical alien head?”

“It’s part ironic, part sappy,” Tim said with a laugh. “Cos like, Kryptonians are one of the reasons we know aliens exist now so it’s a joke about that, but also Superman and other heroes represent hope, and you’re supposed to believe to have hope, you know?”

Chuckling, Kon moved into the living room and nudged Tim’s feet out of the way so he could sit on the couch. “You’re such a nerd.”

Tim shushed him and playfully kicked him in the arm.

“Wow, rude. And after I invite you into my own home. My humble abode,” Kon said, clutching his heart.

Another kick to the arm. “You mooched off my tech abilities to get me to do your bidding without even paying me, and now you’re making fun of my shirt. I can do what I want.”

“You’re heartless, Tim Drake,” Kon said, grabbing Tim’s foot when he went to kick again.

“This is my home now,” Tim replied before he let out a fit of laughter that nearly caused him to roll off the couch.

“Do you believe?” Kon asked after the other teen had settled down.

Tim let out a hum of confusion and shifted up onto his elbows to get a better look at Kon.

“In Superman? Do you believe in him?”

Kon watched as Tim let out a sigh and let himself drop back down onto his back. Staring at the ceiling, Tim paused to think before answering. “I got this shirt back when the world still thought Superman was dead.”

“Oh.” That was definitely not the response Kon had expected.

“I got it because of Superboy,” Tim confessed quietly. Kon blushed lightly, trying to will the blood away from his cheeks. “We had just lost the Earth’s greatest hero, and then these other versions came along, including him, you know?”

“What about the others? Eradicator and the Cyborg-Superman turned out to be bad. But what about Steel? They all appeared around the same time,” Kon asked.

Tim hummed, still staring at the ceiling. “Superboy seemed the most genuine, the one with the most potential to be as great as his predecessor. And I wanted to believe in him.”

* * *

Feeling around, Tim finally caught hold of the lump under the couch cushion that had been bothering him. Pulling it out, he saw it was a shirt.

Conner had a black shirt with a red Super symbol on it shoved into his couch cushions.

Glancing up, he saw Conner returning from the bathroom, trying to hide a face of panic when he noticed the shirt in Tim’s hands. “Subtle,” Tim said.

“What?” Conner asked, eyeing the shirt as Tim smirked up at him.

“Nothing,” Tim said, pointedly tossing the shirt at Conner’s feet. “I saw nothing.”

* * *

“Hey, I’m gonna need you to answer this question the best you can, Superboy, because I’m freaking out,” Tim said, hands held defensively in front of him as he stood in the doorway of his own bedroom. The hero paused, halfway through climbing through the window. The sun shone in from behind him, casting his shadow across Tim’s scattered mess of books, video games, and clothing that covered the floor. There was a lengthy pause as the superhero stared awkwardly at the inhabitant of the room he was currently breaking into.

Waving slightly, Kon remained crouched in the window, eyes frantic as he gazed around the room. “Uh. Ok. Shoot.”

Tim took a cautious step forward, shutting the door behind him without looking away from the hero in his windowsill. “What the actual fuck, Conner?”

“Kon. I uh. My name is actually Kon. Conner is my human name,” Kon said, before shaking his head and climbing fully into the room. He almost started to walk over to Tim, but reconsidered and stopped near the edge of the computer desk. “No, wait, not the important part right now. Someone figured out my identity, which means you’re in danger, Tim. We need to get you and your family to safety.”

“Kon, I just found out my boyfriend is Kryptonian, can you give me a better explanation than that?”

At that Kon laughed, and stepped closer. “Tim, you’ve been dropping hints that you know for weeks now.”

Tim rolled his eyes and let out a grin. “Ok, true, but you haven’t officially told me yet and I just caught you breaking into my room.”

“Because you’re in danger,” Kon said, nearly whining. “Everyone knows Conner Kent is dating Tim Drake, which means the Wayne family is a target for anyone trying to hurt Conner Kent emotionally.”

“You’re so dramatic. ‘Trying to hurt Conner Kent emotionally,’ good lord. Why are you using third person?” Tim asked, walking forward and pulling Kon into a hug.

Kon whined out Tim’s name, wrapping his arms around the human boy as he dropped all his weight into the embrace. “We need to get going.”

“Relax, Bruce is the one who figured it out. He’s just trying to make you sweat a little because we’re dating.”

“What the actual fuck,” Kon muttered, burying his face in Tim’s hair. “Why is your family like this?”

Tim grinned. “We make it our goal to be as obnoxious as possible.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Check out my tumblr!](https://haljordanisbatman.tumblr.com/)


End file.
